Gary Wilson ‘lost’ with snooker and frustrated with ‘naive’ pundits

Gary Wilson is ‘lost’ with his game and is frustrated with ‘naive’ pundits who have praised his snooker.

The 40-year-old was beaten 10-5 in the opening round of the World Snooker Championship by Judd Trump on Tuesday, having raced into a 4-1 lead, including a break of 139.

However, the world number one reeled off nine of the next 10 frames to secure passage into the second round where he takes on Si Jiahui or Hossein Vafaei.

Wilson was left despondent after the defeat, not especially because he lost to the former world champion, but because of how uncomfortable he felt in his own game.

He has felt similar for some time, even when he won two games in qualifying to reach the Crucible and frustration is now at an all-time high.

‘Deep down as I was cueing awful, as usual, it’s just constant disappointment,’ Wilson told the BBC. ‘I am and always have been since the age of 13 been a better player than this. It’s just a constant struggle all the time now the yips are getting worse. I’m just riding through it.

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‘People are being really naive if, I’m being totally honest, people who know snooker, people are watching and saying I’m playing good, but missing all the really bad shots and really snatchy ones and not seeing anything a normal good player would notice.

‘That’s even frustrating, everything’s frustrating because no one’s even seeing what I’m showing them.

‘I’m just riding it out, playing ok at times, but I’m just masking the problems, its just debilitating.

‘Towards the end there you lose a bit of heart, it’s not composure, I get that nonsense off commentators, it’s a bit of heart and embarrassment where you know you’re playing a little bit worse towards the end than you even were at the start.

‘Even if you do manage to get in you feel like you can’t hold yourself together. So you just try different things, it’s not composure. You try to speed up, be more aggressive, anything, its desperation. I just wish I could have a game like I used to have and I’d come to these tournaments to compete and enjoy it.’

The world number 27 has been to a ranking final and semi-final this season, so is picking up results despite how desperate he feels at the table.

‘I’m still sort of competing playing like that and that’s the sad thing, I’m sort of competing,’ he said. ‘What do you do? There’s not a lot you can do.

‘I’m making a good living, trying to enjoy the game I’m trying to do well in tournaments but me game is just letting us down. It’s as simple as that really.

‘It’s been a number of years and I’m completely lost at this point. I’ve started speaking to somebody, and I’ve done that before, it’s not a mental thing for me. We’ve all got temperaments on a scale, some might be better than others, but mine isn’t bad when I feel I can actually cue the ball in a straight line.

‘I just don’t have anything really I don’t know what to do from here. I’m making a good living, doing ok, that’s just depressing though, the more the years go on, unfortunately.’

Trump felt Wilson looked good early in the match and can talk himself down too much.

‘I think he was a bit hard on himself in that interview,’ said Trump. ‘At the start he was playing well, all the long balls were going in, he was hitting the ball well, you don’t do that if you’re struggling.

‘Towards the end it built up a little bit and the game was slipping away. He missed a couple and maybe started rushing a little bit.

‘We all struggle at points and Gary is a great player, just sometimes just a little bit too hard on himself.’

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